Flecks of Gold
by DianeB
Summary: A short episode addition to S1's "Money for Nothing."  I've added some depth and narrative to the conversation between Maura and Jane in the autopsy theater, when Jane brings Maura the gold-flecked chocolate bar.


Title: Flecks of Gold  
Author: DianeB  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: Maura/Jane

Summary: An episode addition to S1's "Money for Nothing." I've added some depth and narrative to the conversation between Maura and Jane in the autopsy theater.

Author's Note: This is my first _Rizzoli & Isles_ fic. This story makes an assumption about Maura Isles' sexual orientation that will likely turn out to be untrue. (Hey, I saw it in Erica Hahn, I see it in Maura Isles.) I suspect there are many who would argue that _it_ "shows more" in Jane Rizzoli, but Jane's too darn obvious for me.

Thanks To: Brenda S.-S., my Mighty Editor Goddess, for her fair eye to grammar and punctuation. Written in October, 2010.

Disclaimer: For entertainment purposes only; I claim no right to _Rizzoli & Isles_, TNT, or any affiliates thereof. This is femslash (lite), so please don't read it if you don't like that sort of thing. The chocolate bar is a combination of several different kinds I found through internet research. Any resemblance to actual candy on the market is pure coincidence.

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"You looked really at home in that world."

Maura thought the statement unfair, but she already knew Jane was upset, so she opted for stating basic facts, rather than trying to convince Jane of how far from the truth she was. "It's where I'm from. It's not where I chose to stay." Out in the air, the words sounded false, but it didn't really matter. The piercing look Jane gave her made it clear the detective wasn't finished, and the next thing out of her mouth proved it.

"But what're you doin' down here slummin' with us?"

Maura's initial thought, the one she would _never_ utter out loud, except maybe to herself in the dead of night, was something along the lines of _Fuck you, Jane Rizzoli_, but there was no sense saying that to Jane, not even for shock value. The woman was clearly on a tear, obviously trying to pick a fight because of her frustration with the case and with what she saw as Maura's biased view. Instead, Maura merely answered the question, pretending she didn't hear the venom in Jane's words. "The same as you! I'm catching bad guys."

Jane didn't miss a beat with a sharp-tongued retort, clearly far better than Maura at verbal sparring. "I _need_ this job, you don't."

_That_ one hurt. Maura struggled to keep her reaction from reaching her face, knowing a pained expression would only cloud the issue.

Whoa, mule. What _issue_?

Maura was a scientist, a realist, and she understood many things, and this _thing_ was certainly one of them. Maura knew in her heart that Jane didn't mean what she had just said, but it didn't stop the words from smarting. She hadn't asked to be born into money, any more than Jane had asked to be born into a working-class family. Perhaps, if she took the time to analyze it, she would be able to trace the sting of Jane's words to the jealousy that lay beneath them.

Jealously or not, it still hurt.

Oh, good Lord. Maura fought to keep from rolling her eyes, knowing her thoughts were straying from the subject at hand. But this thing she knew, this _issue_, was a difficult secret to keep, and this case was only making it more difficult.

Falling for your female detective partner was not exactly the most professional thing one could do, nor was it something everyone would immediately embrace, least of all the female detective partner.

Yet there it was.

A faint sound, a sigh perhaps, that may have come from the tension in the room, left Maura scrambling to return to the moment without sounding like an idiot. Swallowing hard, she spoke, surprised that her voice held no trace of the tremor running through her. "Look, I want my life to have meaning and purpose, the same as you."

Jane raised a thick eyebrow in disdain. Backing away, hands up in a dismissive gesture, she said bitterly, "Sounds good, Maura. I-I don't know what to believe anymore. I'm not even sure whose side you're on." With that, she turned and stomped from the room.

Maura sighed heavily, watching Jane disappear down the hallway. She hated to define the words they'd just exchanged as an argument, but that's exactly what it felt like. Still, Maura could no more deny her upbringing or her history than she could breathe in space, and now that Jane was gone and the tension dissipated, Maura found herself peeved that Jane had used that upbringing against her.

Exhaling profoundly, she turned and caught sight of the candy bar on the surgical tray. This was Jane's bribe, disguised as a gesture of friendship, and the bright yellow packaging only reminded Maura of the betrayal.

Yet the box was calling her name. Reaching for it and inspecting the label, Maura learned it was 100 grams of 60% dark chocolate, with flecks of 23 karat gold, and a fat count high enough to kick her blood sugar into overdrive.

She spent a moment fiddling with an end flap, lifting the box to her nose, toying with the idea of downing the whole bar standing there. Though blessed with a fairly high metabolism, even _her_ system wouldn't be able to handle such a large influx of chocolate without serious consequences.

Jane Rizzoli, on the other hand, could eat whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and never gain an ounce.

Which brought Maura to bona-fide eye roll…and Jane.

She could not define the moment when her _issue_ with Jane had become one of something more than mere friendship, but somewhere along the line, her feelings _had_ changed. It was possible this case could force them to change again, and Maura wasn't sure she cared for that.

Maura shook her head and opened the box, resigning herself to a candy inevitability. Unwrapping the inner foil, she bit off a corner of the bar and let the cool chocolate rest on her tongue. As the chocolate succumbed to the warmth of her mouth, Korsak's words came back to her: _Where people like me and Jane come from, we didn't have a lot, but we had each other's backs. Sounds to me like all Jane wants to know is do you have hers or not?_

In the end, the answer was easy. She returned the uneaten chocolate to its box, placed the box in her purse for later, and left the autopsy theater. She would get the truth from Garrett, whether it was something she wanted to hear or not.

She had Jane's back. Of course she did.

End.


End file.
